Ministry Inside.34

You may want to read this post“Who Owns the Pastor’s Sermons.” In a culture where there seems to be constant litigation, this is an interesting wrinkle. (Thanks to Michael Hyatt for linking to this site.)

You might read through Wade Hodges’ Preacher Geek series. This is a series especially for the preacher, primarily to give ideas and stimulate thinking. I read several of these and came away with a few ideas that I can then develop into my own messages. You can find this series here:Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4,Part 5,Part 6.

Game Changer: Seek maturity in your relationships. OK, this is huge. Some ministers I’ve known have “ripped their britches” with a church by behaving in a manner that is immature emotionally. Immature behaviors include:

Reacting instead of responding.

Choosing to manipulate others instead of processing and working through a situation together.

Blaming others when things go wrong instead of taking responsibility.

Sabotaging someone who you differ with instead of being upfront and honest.

Constantly framing a situation in terms of either being with us or with them.

Exaggerating the position of those who differ from you or exaggerating the consequences of a decision. “We have 100 people ready to walk out of this church if we go in that direction.”

ESPN’s Rick Reilly. “In 50 years when they write the life story of Aaron Rodgers, they won’t tell so much about his freakish arm, they won’t go on about his Houdini feet, they won’t write about his grace under pressure, his rifle-scope accuracy or his courage when the land all around him was burning. What they’ll write about is his unlimited capacity to forgive. Through all the hell Brett Favre put him, through all the yo-yoing Favre did with his career – all those years — Rodgers NEVER lost his patience, and never lashed out. Instead he forgave, and he got to work. Fast forward to the biggest moment of his life — February 6th; Super Bowl 45; Dallas, Texas. And teammates are starting to turn on him again. They started dropping the ball — literally. Five different, perfect passes went begging.

“The main perpetrator was [wide receiver] Jordy Nelson, a third-year kid who dropped not one, not two, but three wide-open, room-service, pretty-as-you-please passes. But did Rodgers lose patience with him? Did he lash out? No. Rodgers did something amazing. He KEPT throwing it to him. With the game in the balance, and Pittsburgh trying to pull out the greatest come-from-behind Super Bowl win ever, Nelson DROPPED a spiral that could have iced the game. Anybody else but Rodgers would have bitten a hole in his helmet. What did Rodgers do? He threw the very next pass to Jordy Nelson. He ignored his safety valve, and he waited for Nelson. This time, Nelson’s hands were finally true. He caught it for a colossally huge first down. Two plays later, Green Bay scored the winning touchdown, and the game was over. To err is human, to forgive divine. But to forgive in the Super Bowl — is even better.”